A Fox's Story
by Lutharo
Summary: Fox stands before a cheering crowd, ready to face what would seem to be his ultimate foe.  Rated M.
1. The Journey of a Fox

Author's note: A story from Fox's point of view, in the manner that I suspect he thinks.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or styles in this, they're owned by the almighty Nintendo corporation.

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Blinding light seared my retina as I stepped out into the grandstand. A wave of sound assaulted my over-sensitive ears as the untold thousands of audience members recognised my form. It was always like this, or at least it had been in recent times. Ever since they realized how awesome I was. How awesome we are I should say, to keep Falco happy; but let's face it, we all know where the real power in this team is.

As usual my fans dominated the audience; cheering my name mindlessly like the faithful hounds they are; pathetic. Packing themselves into these stands just to see some bloodshed, they're really no better than barbarians. How I hate them. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for them, HE wouldn't have any need of me. If it wasn't for them I would be free. Sometimes I hate being so good.

It all started a year and a half ago. Slippy, Falco and I were out on a reconnaissance mission, fairly standard, check out a few uncharted planets and then go home. No problem. And all was going to plan, until that filthy canine, Wolf, had to stick his snout in. Normally he would never have stood a chance against the likes of me, us. However, craven that he is, he snuck up behind us and shot before we even knew he was there. Slippy was obliterated in an instant, naturally; Falco and myself meanwhile sustained massive damage to our ships, too much to engage the target. So we did the only thing we could do, we fled. But in the state that we were in, I knew we couldn't go far. Finding a nearby habitable planet was easy; landing on it, however, was another matter.

Falco of course failed miserably and crashed within moments, got his wings clipped by twin mountains as he hurtled uncontrollably across the horizon. I faired better, but it was only through an incredible expenditure of pure skill that I was able to make it, relatively, unscathed. Finding a suitable landing zone, I gracefully landed my vehicle with limited damage to myself or my craft. Though my humility does require of me to make mention of the school and the hospital that had to be sacrificed, so as to allow this feet of aeronautical mastery.

As I made my way out of the flaming ruins of what appeared to be a maternity ward, I came face to face with those who would later become my audience. My scanner showed them to be members of an inferior species known as 'humans'; reading their specs I determined that they were of limited intelligence and of low fighting capability. Unconcerned I ignored them. What might scans didn't pick up however, was their balls.

With a resounding 'KLUNK' a metal sphere bounced of my face and fell to the ground. Instantly opening and shooting, what I thought to be, a killer laser beam. Rather, it was some sort of primitive tractor beam, which quickly drew me into the rather uncomfortable confines of the metal sphere. I fought with all of my usually considerable might, but in my weakened state, my endeavours led to no avail.

I was captured by a pubescent, acne riddled kid, who was clearly a sadist of the most disgusting kind. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. I, the great Fox McCloud, captured by a boy whose voice wavered painfully from piercingly annoying to just plain whiny. I, commander of the Great Fox, brought low by a little runt barely out of diapers. I, who felled Andros the Destroyer, captured by a brat with delusions of grandeur, and no concept of the moral reprehensibility of slave labour. Understandably, at this point I was rather irate.

After much careful consideration I decided that my only possible course of action was to go postal on the kid and teach him not to play with his balls. Unfortunately however, fate decided she hated me, and gave him the power to punish disobedience with his mind; effectively ending any plans I may have had of liberating this planet of another egotistical 'trainer'.

And so I was forced to do battle with other slaves, in what I gathered to be a rather strange attempt to prove to some red-haired lady in short-shorts, that my 'trainer', who I never bothered to learn the name of, was a 'real man'. Personally I thought he would have been better off getting a voice change and giving some serious thought to just who was in his league; but watching him fail was just so much more fun than telling him that. And so it was that my life was reduced to a cycle of waiting, fighting, and most exciting of all, waiting some more.

For about a year we travelled together, by the end of which I had successfully obliterated two major cities, three smaller townships, 8 villages and countless trainers. It was at this point that my trainer realised that I was just too awesome for him to keep, and so 'traded' me off to my current master. The infamous Master Glove. When he first told me his name I resigned myself to yet another of the wacked out psychopaths in a cape that seemed to infest this rock. I will admit myself to have been wrong. The infamous Master Glove, was in fact, a glove. A big white glove in fact, with few other defining characteristics other than an assumed lack of both brains and balls. The later was quickly remedied, however, by my pasty-faced partner, as he handed over my spherical cage in return for some sort of weird looking thunder rat. Insulting to say the least.

And so it was that I found myself at the mercy of a particularly diabolical article of clothing; still, it was undeniably an improvement on my now ball-less friend. In short order I was bundled up and tossed unceremoniously into a cell; where, to my great surprise I met up with Falco. The shock came not so much from the fact that he too had been captured, for my capture proved that his would be inevitable, but rather from the fact that he too had survived. After all, he lacked talent, and thus his death had also seemed to be an inevitability.

I spent the next few months pretending to listen to fanciful tales of Falco's so called adventures; pride of my life that my faced stayed straight throughout his monotonous tales of so-called heroism. My only respite came in the form of the daily exercise regime, a scheme which I enthusiastically endorsed, so as to escape the inane chattering of my avian cellmate. Naturally, I soon caught the eye the supervisor, and it was not long before I was approached with an offer. They offered myself and another cellmate, of my choosing, a chance at freedom. All we had to do was win 100 matches in the coliseum. As my other choice was to be disintegrated on the spot, I deigned to accept their offer.

I had 24 hours to select a partner from the other inmates. It was not a difficult task. The inhabitants of this cellblock primarily consisted of technologically primitive species, and thus were inferior. However I am a fair fox, and thus I gave each candidate the amount of consideration they deserved. A decision I came to regret, as I found myself wading through a talentless quagmire of plumbers, dinosaurs, hedgehogs and one strange bald man who grew flowers. At the end of my search however, I had managed to find three individuals that managed to scrape over the line. Falco, and two bounty hunters.

The first bounty hunter, a proud fellow by the name of Boba-Fett, was forcibly removed from the selection pool, when he was eaten by some sort of green dinosaur. The other bounty hunter was a tall, blonde, 'well equipped' warrior who seemed perfect to by my partner. However, she quickly lost her place, when I noticed that she spent most of her time lusting over a piece of pink bubblegum that had somehow developed feet and primitive cognitive function. She was clearly insane. Knowing that I was standing right there, she chose to pursue a pink ball, whose only purpose in life seemed to be to out eat the green dinosaur. I'll never understand the some people. Sadly, that left Falco.

So here we are, Falco and I; after months of systematically slaughtering our inmates, only to discover that they could be revived indefinitely; we, well I, had earned the admiration of the crowd, and we're now preparing to take on our next opponent. Oh joy.

I spared a glance to the simulated battle environment; it was completely empty, except for a lone sign which read 'The Final Destination'. I chuckled under my breath, so it was going to be an old fashioned showdown. Fantastic! Perhaps this time my opponent would be good enough for me to stretch my muscles. I checked my gun and my reflector shield to make sure that both were at hand and ready for the upcoming battle. And psyched myself up to unleash a shit-storm of pownage on whoever walked through that portal.

The lights dimmed, the crowd fell silent, the only sound in the stadium, a deep, resonant drumbeat. Slow at first, the drum gradually grew in tempo, rising finally to a frenzied rhythm, aimed to drive the crowd wild with anticipation. And, inferior beings that they were, the hackneyed method worked, finally driving the crowd over the edge into an uncontrolled uproar. I let the sound of the crowd wash over me, basking in it. For I had learnt that the fervency of the cheering correlated with the popularity of the opponent; I'd never heard a crowd as wild as this one. This was going to be a big one.

The crowd fell silent, the signal had been given, and the challengers approached. Who could it be? Probably one of those I'd singled out for my team originally, all of the others were just inferior barbarians, there was no way they'd be able to hold a candle to us.

The ground beneath me began to tremble as a detonation shook the stage; smoke clogged my vision; the only sound, the heavy footsteps of what I was sure would be my ultimate foe.

To be this popular, they must be almost as awesome as I am, a proxy of my talent, of my superiority, of my skill. The smoke began to clear, I could see their outline, one large, one small. I'd take the large one, then finish of the small one for Falco when I was done. Closing my eyes, I saw how I would win, saw how I would be free, saw myself besting my ultimate foe. Throwing open my eyes I beheld my-oh-so-popular opponent.

Shit. It was a guerrilla. And he had a chimp. Double shit. My ultimate foe was a monkey. My disappointment was rivalled only by my contempt for the crowd, as I realised that this, thing, was their favourite. That they thought it to be a match for me. I wouldn't even need to flex my muscles.

Turning to my sidekick, I let out a snort of laughter, "Let's get this over and done with, I'll take the big one, don't get in my way."

As I said this the 'Big one' gestured his pet forth and began to swing his arm, as if he hopped to gain some sort of power boost from the movement. Well it was just a monkey after all. Ignoring him, for the moment, I focused on the chimp, not much of a threat, but at least he seemed to have a bit of speed to him. Suddenly enjoying myself, I decided to abandon my plan and meet his charge, mimicking his simple tactic of 'charge head on'.

Just before we made contact I leapt gracefully in the air, spinning myself as I did so to unleash a drill kick on the unprepared chimp. I felt bones crack beneath my feet as I smashed my unfortunate foe to the ground. I lightly stepped off of him, and then turned to grab him as he rose, battered and bleeding, from the dust at my feet. Pulling the poor beast towards me, I made sure he was looking me in the eye as I delivered a powerful punch directly to his face, sending him flying towards Falco. My ally stood ready, waiting for my leftovers. The moment the small monkey came within his range he unleashed a double-armed swing into the creatures stomach. The force of the attack was enough to send him flying away, over his partner and off the stage, falling to his death and removal from the fight. One down two to go.

The small chimp's death had left the crowd momentarily speechless, I understood their awe, sometimes my awesomeness shocked myself. It was not long, however, before they realised how utterly I'd obliterated my foe, and showed their appreciation in a matter more befitting. Allowing myself a brief smile I realised that I could take my time with this opponent, and show the crowd just how powerful I was. First a little light show.

Clenching my muscles as hard as I could, I released the sheer amount of energy I had built up in my body. 'Come on!' I screamed as flames gushed forth from my pores surrounding me in a firestorm of sheer power. The crowd loved it, and as one they began to cheer my name. They were like sheep, and hung of my every whim.

My joyful reverie was interrupted as a loud rumbling sound behind me stampeded towards me. Turning on the spot, I saw that the guerrilla had finally decided to meet his maker. Showing as little care for the finer points of tactics as his smaller team-mate had, he charged me head on. Confident in my abilities I planned to simply kick him back, then swoop in to where he landed to finish him off. Just as I was about to do this however, I noticed that the beast was flashing white, almost as if he contained within him an intense amount of energy. Curious at this turn of events I calmly sidestepped the wild kick he lunged at me with, then proceeded to roll behind the beast out of his range.

Confused by my agility and style, the poor ape looked around in confusion for a moment as if unsure as to whether or not he'd killed his target. It was not long before he noticed Falco standing in front of him frantically reaching for his blaster. Having spied the blue bird, the rapid beast beat its chest in rage and began its crazed charge once more.

Falco for his part had finished fumbling with his weapon and now turned it on the approaching wall of angry muscle. His first shot didn't seem to have any effect on the brute, his second only served to enrage it more. Clearly desperate, my ally attempted to fire off another shot, this one however was dodged as the obstinate monkey neatly jumped over the blue beam, managing to time his jump to land just before reaching his avian enemy. A moment before he landed however, one of his great arms was pulled back in preparation. As his feet touched the ground, he flung his entire weight forward, fist first, in a punch so powerful that it burned white hot.

For a split second the two stood suspended in a motionless state, the monkey's fist and Falco's face occupying the same area. A moment later the universe righted this anomaly by sending Falco flying backwards at breakneck speeds. He too was driven past the edge of the stage and plunged down to his death. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he'd been beaten by such a stupid brute. He really was pathetic. Once more it was all up to me.

In one fluid movement I pulled out my blaster and unloaded a series of blasts into the ape's face before holstering it once more. The dumb thug didn't even know what hit him. He was just left standing there staring stupidly, confusion clouding his eyes even as the smell of his burnt flesh pervaded his nostrils. Predictably he did the only thing he seemed to know how to do, he began swinging his arm.

Having seen the effect of the 'super punch' on Falco I decided that it would be better to not risk facing one of them, I wouldn't want it to ruin my fur after all. Conclusion then, I had to end this before he could get in that punch, I had to end it fast.

With this in mind I began to sprint forward as fast as I could. Before long I was within range of my patented (I'm too big of a man to point out that Falco copies it) 'Shadow Fox' move. Flicking on the shadow drive I partially phased out of existence, momentarily becoming semi-tangible. In an instant I'd closed the distance between me and my primitive foe. The plan was simple, using my shadow drive I'd capitalize on his moment of shock to cut straight through him, wiping him out in an instant. The crowd would cheer, I'd do some posing and then later I'd have some good clean family fun with some wild female foxes. Easy.

My superior intellect however was unable to account for the ape's insurmountable lack of intelligence. The overgrown tic had somehow managed to find a way to survive off pure instinct. An instinct that told him he was about to die. Acting on this instinct he managed to roll away out of the range of my attack (the chances of him figuring out my plan being zero of course), whereas another, more complicated individual would have been doomed to a messy painful death. If only my brain weren't so much more evolved than his, I'd have been able to predict his moves. Honestly sometimes my genius is a curse.

As it was, I was left momentarily stunned before the twitching mass of angry muscle. I was stuck there, just as he began to deliver his super punch. A lesser fox would have wet himself, but naturally I was doing okay. Just as with his chimp companion, I kept my wits about me and sidestepped the slightly impressive punch. My timing was so perfect that I could feel the hairs on his arm brush my nose. It was of course deliberate to those who doubt me, I always say you need to keep them guessing till the last moment.

Naturally the punch was too powerful for the beast to have any real control over; his momentum was enough to force him to stumble forward for a second. Obviously this gave me more time than I needed to finish him off. Grabbing him by his bright red tie, I gracefully smashed his face into the floor, leaping off of the ground as I did so, unloading a battery of laser blasts into his back. The sheer force of my downwards throw sent him sailing off into the air, where moments later I met him with my devastating quintuple kick of doom.

Hey flew away into the crowd, covered in blaster marks, filled with broken bones and sporting a bruise the shape of my boot in the middle of his face. Utterly defeated.

Inevitably the crowd went wild; within moments they were falling over each other to show how much they adored me. Even one such as I, possessing humility and sportsmanship in abundance, allowed myself a small smile.

Just another day's work well done.

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End note: Please feel free to review, I encourage all forms of review. I'd love to hear where you all feel I can improve.


	2. Revenge of the Repressed

I'd like to thank MonkeyKingXIII for his suggestion/providing the inspiration for this. Also, as a quick warning, this one is darker than Fox's story.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or styles in this piece, they are owned by Nintendo

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As I stood there, my tail feathers being fried off by twin walls of fire, I couldn't help but wonder at how far I'd fallen. Here I was, the once great Falco Lombardi, getting my arse handed to me by what I could only describe as a pair of sexually questionable ten year olds. Maybe I'd underestimated them, and had been too hasty in my attacks. Perhaps I'd become too reliant of fighting with a teammate. Or possibly my worst fear was true, it could be that they were just on a whole different level to me. Whatever the reason was, the result was the same. I was going to lose and the way things looked now, there was nothing that I could do about it.

But to be honest the fact that I was going to lose no longer bothered me. The pain from the bruises and burn marks that riddled my body paled in comparison to the far greater wound that this battle would inflict. The real horror that this battle confronted me with was the embarrassment it would bring me to lose to ten year olds. And perhaps a thousand times worse, the almost sexual satisfaction it'd give that blasted Fox. I was going to have to sit through another one of his monologues about how much he loved himself. Arrogant jackass.

The ramifications of my ongoing humiliation rolled through my mind. Relentlessly my brain generated progressively worse scenarios and greater mortifications. It was just another chapter in the unending cycle of self-doubt and self-recrimination, which had been my life since landing on this miserable planet. And yet, throughout this maelstrom of blame and self-pity, there was one thought that I consistently came back to: how had it come to this?

I suppose that it started just after Fox and I fought that pair of monkeys. We battled, I died, we won, and then I got a lecture, fairly routine. Even what followed was pretty much par for the course. As usual I was left in the courtyard to desperately try to hold back both my memories and tears, while Fox retired to his room and had his way with some of his four legged friends. It was sad, depressing and miserable, but all in all relatively typical. At least it would have been if it weren't for the arrival of Master Glove and the Poppinfresh twins.

There I was sitting next to Link minding my own business, not hurting or offending anybody, when all of a sudden a shadow fell over the park bench on which we sat. Link, who later explained to me that prior experience had given him a sixth sense for this sort of thing, sprung from his spot, back flipped into a 'safer' spot, and then proceeded to draw a bow on me. Sadly though I wasn't quite so fast. As it turns out the punishment for sloth on this planet was to be squashed to death by a giant glove falling from the sky. Rather oddly my last thought was to wonder where Link had pulled that bow from. Not the most stylish of ways to die.

Luckily I had another guy. Almost instantaneously I was re-pixelated not 5 feet from where I had been sitting. My murderer turned out to be my master, who now posed proudly in front of me. On his back, hugging each other very closely, sat my current tormentors. They were short, rosy cheeked little boys dressed in matching clothing, from the short shorts to prescription shoes. The very sight of them filled me with an unspeakable horror. It wasn't the fact that they each brandished a baseball bat. Nor was it the fact that the blond one's hair defied gravity. It was something else, something far more sinister that made me shake in my boots.

Master Glover said that their names were Ness and Lucas; I cared not. The black haired on smacked the green plumber in the face with a yo-yo, I didn't bat an eyelid. The other one exaggeratedly and suggestively spanked the yo-yo wielder for his rudeness; the strangeness of this didn't register on me for hours. All of this I missed because I was transfixed on their most dominant feature. The hollow black expanse of their soulless eyes. Nothing stirred in that darkness, not a glimmer of emotion nor intelligence could be seen in those cold empty eyes. It was like looking at death, permanent death, and it scared me.

My attention was only drawn away from them when my master turned to address me.

'You're that blue parrot that fights with Fox aren't you. Falco was it? Actually never mind, I don't care; your name doesn't matter.'

He seemed to be as pleasant as always.

'It's your lucky day though. I've got myself two new stars here you see. I'm sure the crowd will love them. But first they need to win a few matches, stretch their muscles, and show off a bit. So I need someone who's well known and popular, but who'll lose. And I think that you fit that description perfectly.'

Oh god, please don't let him say what I think he's about to say.

'Suit up birdy your battle begins in an hour.'

Damn; why is it always me?

'Oh and by the way, they have psychic powers.'

Fuck.

'One hour, be there or I'll finish you off, permanently.'

What followed was one of the longest hours of my life. I sat there and watched the frolic and dance with each other, their activities becoming progressively more flamboyant as the crowd watching them grew. It was about the point where they were kissing each other's necks, their soulless eye's surveying the crowd dispassionately all the while, that I came to the conclusion that I was going to get my arse handed to me. From the lack of look in their eyes I didn't expect to receive any mercy.

My prediction was correct. Thus it is that I stand here being burned alive in front of thousands of spectators. Once again, bruised, burning and humiliated. I can hear Fox's laughter from his place in the crowd from here. It'd finally happened. I'd finally sunk so low, become so pathetic that I disgusted even myself. I started to hate my life. And with that conclusion, what little fight I had in me deserted me. I no longer cared. It didn't matter what happened to me now.

Eventually their psychic fires died down, and I was left to collapse to the ground. To either side of me, my foes performed a merry jig, posing and milking the crowd for all their worth. And the crowd responded, they adored the dancing duo, I do not know why. Perhaps, being so far away, they were unable to see the heartless cold cruelty of their eyes. They called to the boys, they cheered for the boys, and they were crazy about the new fighting force. They gave them everything that they'd denied me. Just like Fox before them, these boys were taking all the crowd's love.

'NESS! NESS! NESS!'

'LUCAS LUCAS!'

'They're so adorable!'

'You can do it, finish the bird off!'

All these cries and more washed over me, as I watched the boys come closer. How I wished that it was me they were cheering for. How I wished for their acceptance.

'Wow do you here that Mr Bird, the crowd loves us,' smiled Lucas.

I sent him a solemn glare and spat out the blood that had built up in my mouth.

'Just finish me off,' I growled with as much dignity as I could manage.

'Yeah, maybe we should,' replied Lucas.

'Ok Mr Bird, we'll end this fight now. But we haven't had enough blood to satisfy us yet!' grinned Ness as he knelt down to where sat in a heap.

'Yeah not nearly enough!'

'Tonight we're going to come to your room and beat you up again, and again, and again. We're going to keep doing it until you know just how much of an inferior wretch you really are. Ok?'

'We're going to have so much fun Mr Bird!'

It was all I could do to stare at them in abject horror. Not once did their smiles falter, not once did their expression change. They were psychopaths. A cold shiver swept across my burnt flesh. Why me?

'Ok here I go!' announced Ness gleefully as he produced his bat.

Before I'd even had a chance to register what was going on the prepubescent psyker unleashed a devastating blow on me sending me flying into the sky, hurtling off the side of the platform on which we'd fought. Time seemed to slow down as I arced, upside down, across the sky. It seemed like I had a lifetime in which to contemplate my situations and the scene before me.

Behind me the kids had already started to hug in victory. The crowd around us cheered wildly, loving my defeat, revelling in my shame. My master watched silently, somehow I knew he was pleased with how this had turned out. In the midst of it all sat Fox, pointing at me, tears of laughter pouring down his face. He was holding his side and clearly having trouble breathing, he was clearly having the time of his life. Of the thousands that occupied the stadium, I alone was the only one in misery. I alone was suffering. I alone had lost everything.

It may have been the fact that all the blood was rushing to my head, it may have been because I'd been pushed too far, beyond the realms of self-loathing, but something inside me cracked. I'd had enough. I was tired of being everyone's punching bag, tired of being Fox's weak sidekick. And most of all I was tired of being beaten up by a pair of brats barely out of diapers. I wasn't going to let this happen, even if it killed me in the process I'd wreck those monsters, I'd get some of my pride back.

A violent scream ripped its way forth from my lungs, echoing around the stadium, silencing the crowd's bloodlust. The air around me distorted and warped under the pressure of my rage. Calling upon a deep reserve of energy I wasn't aware that I had, I bent reality in on itself, moulded the world around me into a form I found more suitable. I stilled in mid air, around me a series of lasers formed an intricate pattern, before solidifying into solid steel. My anger had summoned a Landmaster Battle Tank. I was going to utterly destroy those midgets.

Releasing a volley of blasts from the main turret in quick succession the tank was flung through the air towards the main stage and my quarry. They stood there, their mouths agape in shock, as a wall of solid steel lumbered through the heavens towards them. Ness was the smarter of the two, dropping his bat he ran as fast as he could away from certain death. Lucas however was frozen in place, his knees shaking, an emotion finally interrupting his gleeful expression; fear. He made a perfect target.

I'll admit that at this point I'd completely lost it. I was sitting in the driver's seat cackling like mad as I swung the gun turret around to point directly at the blond boy. I watched as I fell closer and closer to him, and still he didn't move. When I was at point blank range I unleashed an earth shuddering blast, completely obliterating the smug boy. The Landmaster was driven back, landing heavily, shaking the platform under its immense weight. The smoke from my shot cleared revealing only a charred pair of sneakers where Lucas had once stood.

One down, one two go. My satisfaction knew no bounds.

My delight was short-lived however, for suddenly my world turned green. Turning the tank I saw Ness staring at me in deep concentration, above him floated a ball of green energy. The tanks treads had been ruined in its landing so I had no hope of escaping the attack; my only hope was interrupting Ness' concentration with a well placed shot. In a heartbeat I'd taken aim and released another round of cannon fire, but I was too slow. Even as I fired I felt an explosion rip through the armour plating of my tank, hitting a fuel line and completely destroying my war machine. With what little remained of my well of energy I was able to summon the lasers once more and protect myself from the blast.

I landed lightly on the platform scanning the smoke in front of me for any sign of my foe, I'd managed to shoot him, but as of yet I had no proof that it had hit him. There was a tense few moments, but eventually the smoke parted enough for me to make out a sphere of glowing blue energy. He'd erected some sort of shield to protect himself from the blast. My shot hadn't even phased him, and worse yet he was smiling once again. Cocky brat.

He dropped his shield, and before he'd so much as moved I'd shadow stepped to him and began to release a devastating assault. Spinning on the spot I rained blow after cutting blow on him, covering him in small wounds and cuts. Eventually however he got free of my attack and managed to roll behind me; once there he dropped to the floor and attempted to kick my feet out from under me. But I was still held fast in the grip of my rage, I hopped slightly in the air avoiding his attack and releasing a devastating kick directly to his head. He was sent skidding across the stage, most of his face broken.

I stood there for a second, catching my breath, as he rose from the ground and dusted himself off. I'd once more managed to wipe the smile off of his face, what he showed now was what I suspect is his true self. A grotesque look of fury distorted his features; his eyes somehow seemed to become even darker, as if they drew in and fed off of surrounding light. I'd gotten to him, excellent.

I started to walk towards him, hoping that my ominous approach would scare the midget even further. I was out of luck in that regard though, for as I took my first step towards him, the strangest thing happened. He began to glow, and rise up in the air. His eyes in the previously so empty and soulless suddenly blazed with the power of the sun. The world began to shake, the air around him seemed to crackle, lightning danced around him. And then it came. In a spot equidistant from the two of us, a blazing meteorite suddenly smashed down to the ground, punching a crater into the battlefield.

Looking up, I saw, to my horror, that the kid was hurling an entire bombardment of meteors at the stage. My only saving grace was that his aim was limited at best, making the storm smash into the stage randomly. I dodged and avoided what meteors I could, but inevitably there came one that I didn't see in time to dodge; one from which I couldn't escape. The meteorite came crashing down on me, 5 tonnes of rock ready to pulverise me to dust. I did the only thing I could do; I used my most powerful attack in a desperate attempt to destroy the meteorite.

I flipped on the spot, pummelling the rock with a devastating kick. Somehow my attack was successful; the gargantuan missile was sent flying away from me off towards the crowd. I felt a moment's guilt at the likely very large number of people that had fallen victim to that manoeuvre. Guilt was soon swallowed once more by rage however, as I caught sight of my foe still hovering in midair, as if he had yet more to summon. I couldn't let that happen. Drawing my pistol I took careful aim, I'd only have one shot at this, I had to do it right.

The world went silent, for a split second we two were the only things in existence. He was all that mattered, everything else was just a distraction. Squeezing the trigger I released a blast from my gun, dead eyeing him right in the middle of his forehead. It wasn't enough to defeat him, but it broke his concentration and knocked him out of his floating position. He fell like a brick to the ground, but I was faster. Shadow stepping over, I caught him with a double handed blow as he was falling. Finally the brat was sent hurtling off the stage and down to the dark depths and his death.

The crowd was filled with stunned silence. Master Glove was enraged. Fox was cleaning his nails. A second later, the crowd registered what had happened and they began to cheer their lungs out. Master Glove relaxed; this would be good for sales. Fox began cleaning his fangs. I collapsed where I was and let the love of the crowd wash over me. Wave after wave of adulation swept over me cleansing my soul of the crippling depression I'd been facing just moments ago.

I'd won. I'd done it. I'd finally proven myself on this godforsaken planet. I was no longer in Fox's shadow. I couldn't help but note what a beautiful day it was.

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I encourage all forms of review/feedback, so feel free...


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